TROUBLE IN PARADISE? Oprah has her own channel and she still won't give Stedman a show about model trains

Apparently the rock-solid foundation that television mogul and cultural icon Oprah Winfrey and author, but mainly Oprah's partner, Stedman Graham, built their relationship on is beginning to show a few cracks.

The latest hot gossip is that Stedman is feeling betrayed after Oprah declined to give him a show in where he could talk about his passion for model trains.

Rumour has it that the fight started after Stedman told Oprah that he had just the thing to help boost ratings for the Oprah Winfrey Network. Leaked emails show that Stedman believes that model railway enthusiasts were an underserved demographic after the failure of the Xzibit-hosted Pimp My Tiny Train, and that a show catering to miniature railroad aficionados would expand OWN's reach from its current audience of those seeking dangerously ill-informed mental health advice from Dr Phil.

Winfrey was overheard at the Harpo offices complaining that model railways were meant to be a hobby that old men did quietly in the basement and not on a television channel that reaches to 80 million homes.

An employee at California Hobbies in Santa Barbara then revealed that one of Winfrey's assistants had placed an order for "the most time-consuming and distracting model train kit you guys have" as a present for Stedman.

Those close to the couple have reported the usually affectionate duo are sleeping in different bedrooms after Oprah dismissed Stedman's self-financed pilot presentation Miniature Magic: The Art & Science of To-Scale Replicas of America's Freight Trains as "too niche."

The pilot had Stedman interviewing some of America's most prominent model railroaders before placing an exact replica of the CSX Intermodal 59th Street Yard next to the actual CSX Intermodal 59th Street Yard and comparing the two for a full 25 minutes. Stedman is reportedly mad that Rachel Ray gets "like a million hours on TV making stupid salsa" while he can't get "one lousy show to talk about the true beauty of 1:87 scale model of a North American centre cab."

This is hardly the first time a hobby has resulted in celebrity relationship drama: Demi Moore once cited Bruce Willis's "constant cross-stitching" as a contributing factor in their divorce, and it's well documented that Brad Pitt left Angelina Jolie because of her obsession with radio control cars. There is hope though: after an ultimatum from Ellen Degeneres, Portia De Rossi stopped pitching Ellen guests her idea for a trilogy of stamp-collecting thrillers.

The final straw for Winfrey was allegedly when Stedman started shopping the show around to rival networks. In a desperate attempt to sell the show, he told them that Oprah was extremely invested in the project and would make "several appearances" to talk at length about methods of constructing miniature rail switches and crossings.

Gayle King and Dr. Oz were recently announced as the hosts of OWN's newest show, Model Railroads: Examplarery Rail Systems and Tinier Reproductions they Inspired.   

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